Southern California -- this just in

Police arrest suspect in shooting that left soldier paralyzed

December 26, 2011 | 5:53
pm

San Bernardino police Monday announced the arrest of a suspect in the recent shooting of a 22-year-old soldier on leave for the holidays.

Police arrested Ruben Ray Jurado in the Dec. 23 shooting of Army veteran Christopher Sullivan, a police spokeswoman said. Sullivan, who had served in Afghanistan, was attending a welcome home party in his honor when he intervened in a dispute between his brother and another man at the party over football.

According to authorities, the other man pulled a gun from his waistband and fired at least three shots, one hitting Sullivan in the neck, another in the buttocks.

Jurado, accompanied by an attorney, turned himself in about 2 p.m. Monday at a San Bernardino County sheriff's substation in Chino Hills, authorities said.

Sullivan had survived an attack last December, when his unit was hit by a suicide bomber in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Six men were killed in the explosion, but Sullivan survived. The 22-year-old spent much of the last year recovering at Ft. Campbell, Ky., his family said.

His mother, Suzanne Sullivan, told The Times that doctors believe her son will be paralyzed from the neck down.

"I don't have any emotions. My emotions are none," she said. "He didn't deserve it. He's an excellent son and an excellent man."